Algea

[Kdog4223]

Need some help with a algea problem. I currently have a 7 gallon tank with about 5 pounds of live rock roughly. I have 4 turbo snails and they aren't getting all of the algea off of the glass. Any ideas. Any help or pointers would be great I'm new to this hobby.

[jaguilar]

2 words: mag float.... those are the coolest things to come along since sliced bread. it only takes about a minute or two every other day, and you can easily get rid of any algae on the glass that your snails leave behind.

[40oz casualtie]

well the mag float is a good idea and i have one but it only gets the algea off of the tank but the algea is still in the water. just warning you don't use tap water. even if you condition it and declorinate it, it has nitrites and other bad things that break down into nitrates which produce algea. you may already know that but just incase. if you do have tap water in your tank just do some one fourth water changes about twice a week for about 2 or 3 weeks. you may also want to inves in a protein skimmer if you don't already have one. if you already have one and you used distilled water then how often do you do water changes because i usually do about 3 to 4 water changes a month in my 25g tank.

[Kdog4223]

I dont use tap water, I use purified water and i also have a mag float, but there are certain parts i cant get to cuz of the live rock touching the glass. So are there a type of snail that is better than another????

[40oz casualtie]

well i have this huge snail i got that is like 4" wide but i don'[t know what it is called. the turbo snails are pretty good though. i mean all tanks have some algea. you probably don't need to wory about it.

[NanoAmyDee]

How long ago did you put the snails in? And how new is the tank? Different parts of your tank's cycle can produce different blooms. Other things can cause this like lighting, number of fish, feeding your fish...etc.

[tinyreef]

Originally posted by Kdog4223

but there are certain parts i cant get to cuz of the live rock touching the glass. So are there a type of snail that is better than another?

try a toothbrush for the hard to reach spots (btw do not use an old/used one).

 

try cerith snails (if you don't have hermits). they're tiny and stir up the substrate too. not the fastest of snails and that's saying muy slow so i'd figure 1~2 per gallon for them to see an impact.

 

sometimes you can get tiny astrae snails too. they're the standard imo and they shouldn't get too large too quickly (6 mos. ~ 1 yr. to double in size). hth

[Tempest]

Check your phosphate level. High phosphate in the water can contribute to algae blooms. If too high use Phosban or rowhapos + weekly water changes to lower the level. Please note that you will never be totally without algae in your tank.